Fastening for laces.



' No. 729,305. f PATEKTED MAY 26, 1903,!

H. G. EVANS.

FASTENING FOR LAGES.

APPLIOATION'PILED JULY 19, 1902;

no M DEL;

- of the foot, and which may be instantly fas- Patented May 26, 1903.

PATENT, OFFICE.

HARRY O. EVANS, OF BRISTOL, PENNSYLVANIA.

FASTENING FOR LACES.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 729,305, dated May 26, 1903.

Application filed July 19, 1902.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, HARRY O. EVANSJI. citi-' zen of the United States, and a resident of Bristol, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fastenings for Laces, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in means for securing the ends of shoestrings, &c.; and the object of myinvention is to furnish a means for securing the ends of a shoestring without tying them which will hold the ends of the string so as to prevent them from hanging down, which will maintain an even tension upon the strings in all positions tened or unfastened.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and in which similar letters of reference indicate similar parts throughout the several views, Figure 1- is a perspective view of my lacing-fastening, the

upper part of a shoe being indicated by dotted lines; Fig. 2, a plan of the lace-fasteners; Fig. 3, a section of Fig. 2 on line A B; Fig. 4, a section of Fig. 2 on line C D."

My lace-fastener, of which there is one for each end of the lacing, is preferably struck from a thin sheet of metal by suitable dies and is preferably finished in enamel of the same color as the shoes or laces with which it is to be used. The fastener is struck to form at the front end a wedge-shaped slot a, through which an end of the lacing is passed and which is adapted to bind upon and secure the fastening to the lace. The main body of the metal plate is cut out and bent up at b cto form a cleat, around which the free end of the lacing may be Wound in order to prevent it from hanging down in an unsightly manner. :The sides of the plate are bent up and over, as shown at d d, to cover the lacing when wound around the cleat, forming points I) c.

At the inner end the fastener carries or is bent over to forman eye f, adapted to receive a connection g, carried by one end of a piece of rubber h, the other end of which carries one member iof a fastening device, the other Serial No. 116,255. (No modeL) member j of which is carried by the free end of a similar piece of rubber carried by the fastening attached to the other end of the lace.

The shoes having been once laced and the fasteners attached to the laces by passing the latter through the opening a in the-former and jamming them in the V-shaped point of this opening, the free ends of the laces are now wound around the projections b c and under the sides (1 d, and in order to secure the-laces the bands 71. are passed around the back of the shoe and secured together by the fastenings ij. After once adjusting the fastenings to the laces they are not removed, nor are the latter taken ofi cleat be until they are Worn out, as it is only necessary to clasp or unclasp the fastenings t j in order to securely fasten or completely free the ends of the laces. The elastic bands joining the two fastenings permit the laces to yield with the movements of the foot and prevent any slack claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a fastener for shoe-laces, &c., in combination, a pair of fastenings furnished at their outer ends with means for adjustable attachment to the ends of the lacing, a cleat carried by said fastenings, flexible bands secured to the inner ends of said fastenings and means whereby the ends of said bands ma be secured together.

2. A fastening for shoe laces, &c., constructed from a sheet of metal the front portion of which is cut out to forma slit to engage the lacing, the body portion'of which is cut out and struck up to form a cleat, and the sides of which are bent upwardly and inwardly.

HARRY 0; Emma Witnesses:

GEORGE W. SELTZER, CHARLES A. BUTTER. 

